Random Forays: Seven Shades of Verbal Communicators

From personal experience, communicators for me, can be sifted broadly and divided, tongue-in-cheek, into seven categories.

Communicators, much like human beings, come in all shapes and sizes, but they can be sifted broadly and divided, tongue-in-cheek, into seven categories.

Communicators, much like human beings, come in all shapes and sizes. (HT File)

The hesitant ones

These are those who think deeply before they utter any word at all. They might even ponder for hours over something before sharing it, even with close friends. The fact that they are reticent, hesitant or extremely shy makes most of them worthy of our encouragement and backing. However, at times they do exasperate onlookers by refraining from communicating what could have easily been said. The example of a withdrawn youngster who is besotted with his smartphone comes to mind. His text messages as well as his infrequent verbal messages are usually the stuff of monosyllables!

The inaccurate ones

There are some others who are quite prone to communicating incomplete or incorrect information to others. They will always miss conveying the crucial point! One of them worked in my department and would come, all excited, to my cabin with news about a successful event or so. What he always got wrong was the number of people who had attended the “do”. He had a gross tendency to exaggerate, you see! By being always on a high, so to say, he would skip factual details and come up with improbable stats.

The blunt ones

Some can never even pretend to be polite, and not just by virtue of their accents, but because of their loud personalities. Not for them the softness of a gentle smile or a polite nod. They make it their business to let other individuals know exactly what they think about them, and they also tend to add some colourful platitudes or invectives, as the case may be, to reinforce their already forceful opinions! People from Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, with many exceptions of course, are known for their bluntness of speech.

The moody ones

Some people fluctuate in the intensity of their communication as starkly as they do night and day. At times they will be all expressive and jovial and generally unstoppable, but often withdraw into their shells and observe long periods of silence. If such persons are actually observing the spiritual guidelines of silent breaks from the world’s frenzy, they need to be applauded, but if they’re frequently into sulking and moodiness, they need counselling.

The officious ones

Several senior officials and even some juniors tend to think that they should talk less and mostly pretend to be dignified! They seldom indulge in banter and are usually curt with their subordinate staff in particular. My father never used to speak to his driver, for instance, even on a five-hour journey, but thankfully was a warm human being, even after being a man of few words. Officers and executives who are good listeners are rare too. In any case, everyone seems to be in a hurry to cut short conversations.

The hilarious ones

I have also met some brilliantly funny communicators over the years. They ooze wit, particularly when in the mood. The example of Samir Mathur, a senior former colleague, whom we lost recently, comes readily to mind. He had the charm and humour of an age gone by. An old-world and old-school gentleman with impeccable timing in all ways, was Mathur. Some others, fewer in number, are inadvertently funny too! Try as they might, they commit blooper after blooper while speaking. My nani, sweetly, was one of them. She could never utter a correct name, even of one of her five daughters!

The allrounders

There are also a few who know exactly what to say, and what not to say, in a particular situation. Always in command of their speech, they seldom err. But if they do, once in a blue moon, they ironically become the butt of jokes. Everyone else is lying in wait to correct them, you see. They are never allowed to forget even the slightest blunder in communication, even a decade later!

Overall, with people generally overthinking these days, any communication is better than none at all. Even an overdose of it!